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TRIAL BY JURY DISCUSSION
Compiled by Robert Jones
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1. INTRODUCTION
- 2. GENERAL
- a. Everyone Loves Trial by Jury
- b. Some Inconclusive Historical Background
- c. Analysis I
- d. Analysis II
- e. A Subtitle for Trial by Jury
- f. Wife-beating Then and Now
- 3. THE MUSIC OF TRIAL BY JURY
- a. Sullivan's Musical References
- b. The Tuning of the Guitar
- 4. TRIAL BY JURY IN PERFORMANCE
- a. Interpretation and Characterisation
- b. Casting a Female Counsel
- c. Trial by Jury as Part of a Double Bill
- d. Be Firm, Be Firm...
- 5. ALL THE LEGAL FURIES
- a. Is This the Court of the Exchequer?
- b. In the Reign of James the Second
- c. A "Brief" Discussion
- d. "Reversed en banc" - An Explanation
- 6. MISCELLANEOUS
- a. Trial by Jury Puzzles
- b. Related Websites
- c. Also in 1875
- d. Answers to the Puzzles
- e. List of Contributors
INTRODUCTION
Trial by Jury opened at the Royalty Theatre on March 25th, 1875, as an after-piece to follow Offenbach's La Perichole. It was such a success that, before long, audiences were coming to see Trial by Jury rather than the opera it was supporting.
Trial by Jury is unique in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire. Originally billed as a "Dramatic Cantata", it consists of only one act and contains no spoken dialogue. Its brevity, wit, satire on the legal system, and its sheer silliness, ensure that it remains popular today.
The following notions, suggestions and arguments on Trial by Jury were collected from the "Opera of the Week" discussions held by members of the SavoyNet mailing list during 1997. The thoughts expressed are, of course, the personal opinions of the contributors.
Download this discussion transcript as a single Microsoft Word (185K) file.
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Page updated 16 August, 2011